This invention relates to a cutting assembly for cutting vegetable products, such as potatoes and the like. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved cutting assembly particularly designed for cutting a potato into a generally cylindrical central core and a plurality of outer strips each having a generally arcuate cross section.
Cutting devices in general for use in cutting vegetable products, such as potatoes and the like, are well known in the art. These cutting devices include various mechanisms for moving the potato into cooperation with one or more knife elements to sever the potato into a plurality of longitudinal strips, cross sectional slices, and the like of desired size and shape. For example, cutting devices are known for cutting potatoes into relatively thin slices for frying or into a plurality of lengthwise strips to form so-called French fries. However, prior art cutting devices in general for cutting potatoes have been characterized by a relatively slow production rate, thereby requiring a relatively large number of the cutting devices when high production rates are desired.
In an attempt to improve potato cutting production rates, so-called hydraulic cutting assemblies have been developed wherein potatoes are propelled one at a time through a conduit with an hydraulic fluid such as water at a relatively high velocity to impact a plurality of cutting knives secured by appropriate support members to extend transversely across the hydraulic flow path. The kinetic energy applied to each potato by the hydraulic fluid is sufficient to drive the potato past the cutting knives whereby the potato is cut into a plurality of pieces. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,108,625; 3,109,468; and 3,116,722. Typically, these hydraulic cutting assemblies have included a crisscross rectangular array of the cutting knives to divide the potato into French fry strips each having a rectangular cross section. In order to assure uniform high quality of size and shape, and relatively uniform cellular composition of the French fry strips, it is common to form the cutting knife array to have a size smaller than the cross section of the potatoes whereby flat-shaped outer slabs are removed from each potato resulting in a core of square cross section for cutting into the French fry strips.
The flat-shaped outer slabs and the French fry strips are separated for flow into individual, concentric discharge conduits, as suggested in said U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,108,625; 3,109,468; and 3,116,722. The strips are normally subjected to further processes such as parfrying, freezing, and the like, whereas the outer slabs are sometimes used in the production of other types of potato products such as flakes or granules, provided that the potatoes have been peeled prior to engagement with the cutting knives. Alternately, it is not uncommon for the outer slabs to be discarded as waste.
In prior art hydraulic cutting assemblies, the cutting assembly including the plurality of knives and the associated support members occupies a volume substantially larger than the volume of a corresponding length of the hydraulic conduit. As a result, the hydraulic fluid entering the cutting assembly substantially and rapidly drops in pressure to create a high degree of fluid turbulence within the cutting assembly. While the French fry strips cut from the square core normally have sufficient structural integrity to withstand this turbulence, the relatively thin and fragile outer slabs experience a high incidence of fracturing or shattering to render these slabs unusable as a separate slab-shaped potato product. Moreover, the substantial hydraulic pressure drop fails to optimize the hydraulic driving force acting upon the potatoes across the cutting assembly, resulting in a less than optimum production rate or requiring excessive pumping pressures to achieve a desired production rate.
Recently, it has been proposed to utilize an outer slab-type portion of the potato as a separate potato product. More specifically, a generally slab-shaped potato product having particular consumer appeal as an hors d'oeuvre has been proposed comprising a longitudinal strip cut from the outer portion of a potato to include a generally shell-shaped or arcuate cross section with exterior peel intact. See, for example. U.S. Design Patent Application Ser. No. 224,309, filed Jan. 12, 1981. This slab-type product cannot, however, be formed at a relatively high production rate by use of prior art hydraulic cutting assemblies without unacceptable incidence of product breakage as a result of hydraulic fluid turbulence.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved hydraulic cutting assembly designed to sever a vegetable product such as a potato into an inner core and a plurality of outer strips or slabs wherein the shape integrity of the outer strips is maintained. The present invention fulfills this need by providing an hydraulic cutting assembly wherein various knife elements in the assembly are defined by interconnected structural support members having appropriate cutting edges formed thereon to provide a structurally rigid and optimally compact cutting assembly allowing volumetric control of hydraulic flow paths through the assembly for corresponding control of fluid pressure reduction and turbulence.